The Institute for Excellence in Writing, owned by a Catholic convert and home school father, teaches the "structure and style of writing" through live and video workshops. This program is used throughout Canada. As do other programs IEW teaches structure (organizing material for writing) so that the final written piece will be logical, but unlike most programs children are trained to do this by using the writings of good authors. The structure of writing is taught by having children read literature, outline the literature, narrate from their outline, then write their own piece. This eliminates the problem of what to write about and gives the child a "feel" for the flow of good writing. The first of the 5 videos shows the parent how to teach outlining and the beginnings of style. Style, that which makes for a sophisticated sentence as opposed to a "Dick and Jane" sentence, is not taught by most writing programs. IEW teaches style by providing children with a checklist of things that should be included in their writings. They are taught to include strong verbs, to change the part of speech with which they begin their sentences, to include clauses, and many other things all of which is taught in a systematic way which the child can easily grasp and remember because they have the checklist next to them. My children enjoy this program and have made great strides in their writing. This flexibility works in favor of individual differences, but figuring out a schedule was challenging at first. Unlike the Writing Strands program, IEW requires a good deal of parental involvement, especially in the beginning. The 5 video tapes can be rented for $80 or purchased for $130. While the initial outlay for IEW is more than other programs, it is the only one you need to teach writing through high school. This program teaches style and structure for: non-ficiton, critical essays (book reports), narratives, creative writing, writing from pictures, research reports. The IEW forces the child to write better sentences and use more descriptive words, which adults who read a lot tend to do naturally.

Each lesson begins with the speaker reading the rule followed by a 15 word list that includes the speaker repeating the rule every three words. After each word is presented, the student is given enough time to write down the word without feeling rushed. The word list is repeated along with the correct spelling. The student writes the correct spelling next to his word as an accuracy check, noting which words he misspelled. He then studies those words and listens to the same list (CD track) on subsequent days until he correctly spells all list words two times.

Upon first listening to the CDs I thought the program moved too slowly and that my children would find it boring. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was wrong. In retrospect realize that I found it slow and boring because I already knew the words, but for a student just learning the rules and word spelling it moved at just the right pace.

Phonetic Zoo provides different rules from Spelling Power that were quickly learned by our oldest child (who is not naturally a good speller.) At the beginning of eighth grade (after completing Level H in Spelling Power) he worked through the entire Phonetic Zoo high school level in 3 months and was able to apply the spelling rules in his essays. We did a follow up test to the effectiveness of Phonetic Zoo by using the final Spelling Power lists. He missed less then 5% of all words on the last two levels of Spelling Power, and the words missed were rated as being college level. For our family Phonetic Zoo is an ideal program for older students who are yearning for independence and are anxious to "be done" with spelling lessons. This review is of the "Advanced" level of Phonetic Zoo. The IEW website contains an auditory placement test that is accurate in determining which level to purchase.

This little gem was used as a freshman college course after the author met philosopher Mortimer Adler and understood the importance of teaching basic language skills as the foundation of other learning. After some years of study, she put together this course in the Trivium, the three language arts – of word relations (grammar), concept relations (logic), and composition (rhetoric). The result is a primer in Aristotle's Categories, a demanding course in logic, and a prerequisite to good composition. It is not, mind you, a course in grammar conceived as the study of commas, periods, and subjunctive verbs, though it might lead to insight into these matters. Not is it a course in "symbolic logic", the modern logic stripped of thought and studied simply as a form of mathematics. Rather, Sister Miriam offers a prerequisite to philosophy and writing, for this is a course in clear thought and the right use of language.

With all this, The Trivium is demanding, yet it is very accessible. Despite its original use as a freshman college course, it reminded me very strongly of my high school logic text, which, like this, was the work of an obscure nun who had studied Aristotle and wanted his clarity to form the minds entrusted to her care. I look forward to the opportunity to use it at the high school level.

Not only is the volume accessible, but one must delight in its literacy. The illustrations are taken from the great literature of western culture – so the mind is always lifted. It is a pleasure to read, and study is always rewarding, because every step sparkles with beauty and interest as well as clarity. Many of Sister Miriam's examples were originally taken from great literature; her loving editor Marguerite McGlinn has taken the liberty of replacing those illustrations which were time-bound with even more good literature so as to move the book into its rightful place as a timeless resource.

For those who know and love Dorothy Sayers' little essay on the trivium, it may be appropriate to warn that this is not in any sense a resource for primary or middle school children.